Impact tool



N0. 6|3,3I2. Patented Nov. l, 1898.

J. B. RHODES.

IMPACT TOUL.

(Application led May 28, 1897. Renewed Apr. 4, 189B.) (N0 Model.)

dag l 'a UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAY B. RHODES, OE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO FREDERICK C. AUSTIN, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPACT-Tool..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 613,312, dated November 1, 1898. Application filed May 28, 1897. Renewed April 4, 1898. Serial No. 676.480. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAY B. RHODES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Impact-Tools, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates in general to rockdrills or other impact-tools adapted for operation by means of steam, compressed air, or other motive Iiuid under pressure and having a piston-chamber iuclosing a reciprocating piston which carries the drill or other implement; and it relates in particular to a construction of impact-tool in which the piston is reciprocated Within its chamber bya valve mechanism operating independently of its' movement,and comprising to such end a fluidactuated distribution-valve, or piston-valve, as it may be termed, for distributing motive fluid to the piston-chamber and a fluid-actuated reciprocating supplemental valve which is reciprocated by motive iiuid distributed to its chamber by the piston-valve and which when so reciprocated distributes motive uid in turn to the piston-valve chamber, so as to reciprocate the piston-valve.

In an a plication led by me of even date herewith Ihave illustrated and described an impact-tool in which motive fluid is admitted by the piston-valve to the piston-chamber to actuate the piston at altime before it is admitted to the supplemental-valve chamber to reverse the supplemental valve and in which as a preferred arrangement motive liuid is admitted to the supplemental-valve chamber at a time when the piston-valve is arriving at one or the other of the ends of its strokes. Said application describes'diderent constructions and arrangements of valve mechanism, which, however, involve certain features common to both. I have elected to claim in said application such features as are common to both and to further include certain specic claims for one of the two constructions shown. The other of such two constructions is incorporated in the present application and is herein specifically claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view illustrating, in vertical section taken vconnecting the two valve-chambers.

centrally through the piston and valve chambers, an impact-tool embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical elevation of the same with thecylinder which provides the supplemental-valve chamber removed, and Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of said cylinder. Referring to the drawings, 2 represents a piston-rod, which, it is understood, carries a suitable drill and which is reciprocated, so as to effect the desired drilling operation, by means of a suitable piston arrangement confined within a piston-chamber A, which is conveniently provided by a piston-cylinderA', The piston arrangement for reciprocating the drill illustrated herein comprises a couple of separated piston-heads B and B', which are connected with one another by a spirallygrooved connecting-rod 5.

The spirally-grooved connecting-rod 5 engages a device for imparting to it a twisting or rotating motion intermittent between the blows of the drill, whichsaid device is fully described and claimed in my said other application, and hence'will not be further referred to herein.

The val ve mechanism, operating independently of the piston movement for reciprocat" ing the same, comprises reciprocating fluidactuated piston and supplemental valves D and E, confined, respectively, in valve-chambers D and E. The piston-valve D distributes motive fluid to the piston-chamber A by means of inlet-ports 17 and 17 a, extending from its valve-chamber D to the opposite ends of the piston-chamber A and terminat- 'ing in its valve-seat 18, and an exhaust-port 19, extending from its valve-chamber Dl to a suitable exhaust-outlet 20 and likewise terminating in its valve-seat 18, While the supplemental valve E distributes motive fluid to the piston-valve chamber D', so as to reciprocate the piston-valve D, and is reciprocated in turn by motive liuid distributed to its chamber E by the piston-valve D, such coperation being effected by means of suitable ports The said valves D and E are substantially cylindrical in form and are inclosed in separate cylinders F and Gr, providing the valve-chambers D and E', respectively. Motive fluid is ICO supplied to the supplemental-valve chamber E by way of a main inlet-port 22, formed in the cylinder G, and is supplied to the pistonvalve chamber D by way of a couple of supply-ports 23 and 23, connecting the valvechambers D and E' and formed in a wall H, provided by the adjacent side walls of the cylinders G and F, which latter cylinder F is conveniently situated between the cylinder G and the piston-cylinder A.

In order to distribute the motive iiuid admitted to its chamber to the piston-chamber A, the piston-valve D is provided with circumferential recesses 25 and 25, formed by cylindrical heads 39 and 27 and 39 and 27, respectively, which said recesses are adapted to allow motive fluid to pass from the upper supply-port 23 into the upper inlet-port 17 when the piston-valve is below a predetermined point in its stroke and to pass from the lower supply-port 23 into the lower inletport 17 when the piston-valve is above a predetermined point in its stroke; also said piston-valve is provided with an intermediate circumferential recess 26, formed by the heads 27 and 27, which said recess 26 is adapted to allow the lower end of the piston-chamber to exhaust into the main exhaust-port 19 when said valve is below the lower predetermined point and to allow the upper end of the piston-chamber to exhaust into said main exhaust-port 19 when the valve is above the upper predetermined point.

The arrangement for reciprocating the piston-valve comprises ports 30 and 30, formed longitudinally in the wall H, separating the valve-chambers from one another and provided, respectively, with outer end openings opening into the ends of the piston-valve chamber and with inner end openings 32 and 32, respectively, opening into said chamber near its longitudinal middle, and also with intermediate side openings 31 and 31, respectively, opening into the supplemental-valve chamber E. By such arrangement the upper end of the piston-valve chamber can receive motive Huid from the supplementalvalve chamber by way of the side opening 31 and the outer end opening of the port 30 and the intermediate portion of said port 30, so as to drive the piston -valve downward, during which downward movement the lower end of the piston-valve chamber can exhaust into the main exhaust-port 19 by way of the port 30 and its end openings and the intermediate piston-valve recess 26, and also the lower end of the piston-valve chamber can receive motive iuid by way of the outer end opening of the port 30 and the side opening 31 thereof and the intermediate portion of said port, so as to drive the piston-valve upward, during which upward movement the upper end of the piston-valve chamber can exhaust into the main exhaust-port 19 by way of the port 30 and its end openings and said intermediate recess 26. valve E is constructed with a circumferential To such end the supplemental recess 34 and a couple of end cylindrical heads 36 and 36, forming such recess 34, whereby when said valve is at the upper end of its stroke its recess 34 is in communication with the side opening 3l of the port 30 and its lower head 36 closes the side opening 31 of the port 30, and also when said valve is at the lower end of its stroke its recess 34 is in communication with said side opening 31 and its upper head 36 closes said side opening 31. The descent of the supplemental valve therefore causes the rise of the piston-valve, and, conversely, its rise causes the descent of said piston-valve. The arrangement for reciproeating the supplemental valve to such end comprises a couple of ports 38 and 38, extending lon gitudi nally in said separating-wall H and having, respectively, outer end openings opening into the ends of the supplemental-valve chamber and inner end openings 381 and 38, respectively, opening into the pistonvalve chamber on opposite sides of its longitudinal middle. By such arrangement when the piston-valve D has risen sufficiently to place its lower recess 25 into communication with the inner end opening 38c of the port 38 motive iiuid passes from said recess into the lower end of supplemental-valve chamber and drives the supplemental valve upward,dnring which upward movement of said valve the upper end of its chamber exhausts by way of the port 38 into the intermediate piston-valve recess 26 and thence into the main exhaustport 19, and also when the piston-valve has IOO descended suiciently to place its upper recess 25 into communication with the end opening 38b of the port 38 motive fluid passes from said recess into the upper end of the supplemental-valve chamber and drives said supplemental valve downward, during which downward movement of said valve the lower end of its chamber exhausts by way of the port 38 into said recess 26 and thence into said exhaust-port 19. The inner end openings 38b and 38c of said ports 38 and 38 could be so situated as to admit motive fluid to the supplemental-valve chamber at any desired time after the same has been admitted to the piston-chamber; but as a preferred arrangement said end openings 38b and 38C are so situated as to admit motive fluid to the supplemental-valve chamber only at a time when the piston-valve arrives at one or the other of the ends of its stroke. The operation of this valve arrangement is as follows: When the piston-valve descends to the lower end of its stroke, motive fluid is admitted to the upper end of the supplementalvalve chamber and the supplemental valve descends, which descent of the supplemental valve operates to admit motive fluid to the lower end of the piston-valve chamber and causes the piston-valve to rise, and when the piston-valve arrives at the upper end of its stroke, as shown in Fig. 1, motive iluid is admitted to the lower end of the supplementalvalve chamber and the supplemental valve IIO rises, which rise of the supplemental valve operates to admit motive fluid to the upper end of the piston-valve chamber and causes the piston-valve to descend, and so on, as before.

As a simple arrangement the ports 38 and 38a are formed in the bottom of the cylinder G, Fig. 3, before said cylinder is secured in position upon the cylinder F, and in order to avoid interference With the ports 23 and 23a and with the side openings 3l and 3la of the ports 30 and 30a said ports 38 and 38'LL are constructed with loop portions 38d and 38e, respectively, which latter severally encircle one of said ports 23 and 23a and one of said side openings 3l and 31a; also, the longitudinal ports 30 and 30*L are constructed with loop portions 30b and 30C, respectively, which severally encircle one of said ports 23 and 23a and one of the inner end openings 38b and 38c of the ports 38 and 38a. It Will be observed that by thus confining the valves D and E in separate cylinders said valves can be simply and inexpensively constructed in the form of suitably-turned cylinders, and the ports leading to their valve-chambers can be formed in the cylinders providing the latter.

My improved impact-tool involves certain novel features shown in the drawings; but as such features have been particularly illustrated, described, and claimed in my said other application they'will not be specifically referred to herein.

1. The combination with a ported pistonchamber and a reciprocating piston confined therein, of a fluid-actuated reciprocating piston-valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston-chamber, and a fluid-actuated reciprocating valve, said valves being confined in valve-chambers provided by separate eXteriorly-disposed cylinders, and being arranged to distribute motive iiuid for reciprocating one another, and the piston-valve being arranged to admit motive fluid to the supplemental-valve chamber at a time after it has admitted the same to the piston-chamber, as set forth.

2. The combination with a ported pistonchamber, and a reciprocating piston confined therein, of a fluid-actuated reciprocating piston-valve for distributing motive uid to the .piston-chamber, and a fluid-actuated reciprocating valve, said valves being confined in valve-chambers provided by separate eXteriorly-disposed cylinders and being arranged to distribute motive `fluid for reciprocating one another, and the piston-valve being arranged to admit motive fluid to the supplemental-valve chamber at a time after it has admitted the same to the piston-chamber and when it has arrived at one or the other of the ends of its stroke, as set forth.

3. The combination, With a ported pistonchamber and a reciprocating piston confined therein, of the reciprocating fluid-actuated cylindrical valve D adapted for distributing motive uid to the piston-chamber and provided with the circumferential recesses 25, 25a and 26; and the supplemental valve E having a circumferential recess 34; said valves being confined in valve-chambers provided by separate cylinders having ports constructed substantially as described whereby said valves distribute motive Huid for reciprocating one another, and also whereby the piston-valve admits motive fluid to the supplemental-valve chamber at a time after it has admitted the same to the piston-chamber, and when it has arrived at one or the other of the ends of its stroke, substantially as described.

JAY B. RHODES. Witnesses:

A. F. DURAND, A'. MILLER BELFIELD. 

